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MOSCOW — Reports that a 3-year-old adopted Russian child died in Texas last month set off a
furor yesterday in Russia, where officials declared that the boy had been abused, although U.S.
authorities say the death still is under investigation.

The child, Max Shatto, was born in northwestern Russia and lived in the same orphanage in the
city of Pskov as Chase Harrison, who was adopted by a Virginia couple and died at the age of 21
months after his father left him in a hot car in July 2008.

The Russian law banning American adoptions, enacted in December, was named after Chase as the
Dima Yakovlev law, the name he was given at birth.

Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s children’s ombudsman and a fervent opponent of foreign adoptions, said
on Monday evening that Maxim had been beaten and given heavy psychiatric drugs. Konstantin Dolgov,
the Foreign Ministry’s human-rights officer, said the boy had died on Jan. 21 “after being cruelly
treated.”

By yesterday morning, Russia’s top investigatory agency was demanding a role in the inquiry, the
governor of Pskov was insisting that the U.S. family return Max’s 2-year-old brother to Russia, and
a legislator was calling for a stop to the last few American adoptions under way.

“U.S. kills children” was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in Russia.

The U.S. Embassy responded yesterday afternoon, tweeting that the “State Department and local
authorities have been working closely with the Russian Consulate in Houston for weeks.”

But conclusions already have been drawn.

“A savage crime has been committed in America once again,” Pskov Gov. Andrei Turchak said in a
statement.

He said adoptions of any kind in Pskov will be stopped.

In Texas, the Ector County sheriff’s office said investigators were awaiting an autopsy
report.

The child’s parents were identified as Alan and Laura Shatto of Gardendale, Texas.Russia’s
Investigative Committee said it was opening a murder case in absentia against Mrs. Shatto.

About 60,000 Russian children had been adopted by Americans before the ban went into effect on
Jan. 1, and 20, including Max, have reportedly died.